Blog | HemaCare

Researchers are hoping to develop a cancer vaccine to improve a patient’s immune system so they can destroy the cancer cells.

The objective of therapeutic cancer vaccines is to support and enhance a patient’s immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells while sparing surrounding normal cells. The first therapeutic immune cell–based cancer vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is Sipuleucel-T. Administration of this vaccine in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer lead to an increase in overall survival. Boosting T-cell responses against antigens that cause a number of diseases has been approached by autologous transfer of dendritic cells. A pilot study was conducted using dendritic cells pulsed with tumor lysate from patients with ovarian cancer. Vaccination of the patients stimulated T-cell responses to the tumor antigen led to an increase in patient survival.

For many years, cancer therapy has been tackled with a more or less universal approach. The drawback of this approach to therapy is the wide range of different responses to a given therapy. The concept of personalized medicine, tailoring treatment to a patient’s specific characteristics, has been envisioned and desired for many years. It is now being studied and implemented to increase successful responses to therapy, including cancer therapy.

One of the worst adverse effects of bone marrow or stem cell transplant is graft versus host disease. Side effects can range from rashes to a complete destruction of vital organs such as kidneys or liver. Thanks to regulatory T cells from cord blood, transplant patients may have a better therapy option.

We all know that too much cholesterol is bad for our health. However, our CD8 T cells beg to differ. If they accumulate more cholesterol inside their plasma membrane, they become better at fighting cancer. This is what the latest research published in the journal Nature shows.

Scientists develop a 3D liver tissue model that better resembles a working organ – by bioprinting layers of three cell types that include hepatic progenitors obtained from induced pluripotent stem cells.

The human liver is an astoundingly large organ with a very complex set of tasks. It weighs in at about 3lbs and filters the blood that comes from the digestive tract, detoxifies chemicals, metabolizes drugs and makes important proteins that help with blood clotting. Its health is of vital importance, quite literally. Sadly, liver disease is on the rise. There are more than 100 different kinds of liver maladies, including viral forms such as hepatitis A, B and C, bacterial diseases, diseases caused by autoimmune disorders, and cancer. Shockingly, fatty liver disease and its chronic conclusion, cirrhosis, both alcohol-related and non-alcohol-related, are found in up to 25% of Americans today.